David Milton McGowan

  The last duel held in Ontario was in 1833. It was also the last fatal duel. The pistols used can be viewed at the local museum in Perth , Lanark County Ontario. The participants were Robert Lyon and John Wilson accompanied by their respective seconds, Henri Lelievre (probably Lel-ee-vray) and Simon Robertson respectively. The focus of the confrontation was a school teacher Elizabeth Hughes. Robert Lyon was born in Inverurie , Scotland on December 30, 1812 . Along with his family he moved to Canada in 1829. John Wilson was born February 5, 1807 in Paisley , Renfrewshire , Scotland and came to “the colonies” with his family in Perth , Upper Canada about 1823. In 1833 he was studying law under James Boulton. In early June of 1833 Lyon , also a law student, made disparaging remarks about Elizabeth Hughes. John Wilson heard these remarks and, since he had begun a relationship with the young school teacher, demanded that Lyon retract the remarks which at the i...

The work I perform to pay the monthly bills has exploded. I’m sure it will help to pay those bills at the end of the month but it does tend to interfere with working on the new novel, writing posts for the blog and doing things around here such as putting the summer tools away and bringing out the winter things. It is also interfering with the work I need to do on earlier novels and their promotion. Strategic Book Publishing will be and has me supplying information for the changing of the web sites for “Partners” and “Homesteader”. They will become a single site with access to both novels on the one page. As we add more novels they will appear on the same site. In regard to that I have four ready to go. There is my first, the prequel to “Homesteader” which is titled, “The Great Liquor War” but is no longer available; four of the same characters as those found in “Homesteader”. “Jake’s Justice” which I particularly like since it includes a story, or more preci...

I was actually looking for a quotation from the Bible which I wanted to use in one of my stories. However, during the process I found a great many sites with quotations, some of which I have heard and some that I haven't. Of course there are thousands out there, but before I moved on to the task that had actually started me on this journey I found several that where interesting, enlightening, and humorous. Oh, and yes, I did find the Bible quote, the chapter and verse. However, now I've decided not to use it in this particular yarn. Maybe in the next one. Life Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first. (Mark Twain)   Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future. (John F. Kennedy) Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don't resist them - that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward ...